ArchaeologyFest Film Series: Best of 2009: Selections from the festival, which took place earlier this year, play over two weekends. Films include Borneo: The Memory of Caves and Breaking the Maya Code. 7:30 pm Aug. 21 & 22, DIVA. $6. See full schedule at divacenter.org

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off: Still mourning John Hughes? Get a beer and take in a screening of his classic flick about a trio of high school kids really, really enjoying playing hooky. David Minor Theater.

Inglorious Basterds: Quentin Tarantino’s long-anticipated WWII movie stars Brad Pitt as the leader of a group of Jewish soldiers who “engage in targeted acts of retribution” against the Third Reich. “Energetic, inventive, swaggering fun,” said The Village Voice. R. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

O’Horten: Norwegian director Bent Hamer’s latest is a quiet charmer about a longtime train engineer whose life goes subtly off the rails when he retires. In a series of small, quirky happenings, Odd Horten (Bard Owe) discovers that there’s more to himself — and his life — than driving trains and following schedules. PG13. Bijou. See review this issue.

Shorts: The latest family flick from Robert Rodriguez is about what happens when a kid who lives in a town where everything is the same gets his hands on a magical, wish-granting rock. PG. 89 minutes. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

Bandslam: High School Musical’s Vanessa Hudgens costars in this story of rival high school bands hoping to face off at a battle of the bands. PG. 111 min. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

Brüno: Sacha Baron Cohen follows up Borat with this tale of an Austrian model in America. “Baron Cohen is a geniune comic guerilla, charging right to the front lines of the war against prejudice and sanctimony,” says New York magazine. R. Movies 12. (7/16)

Casablanca: If you haven’t seen it, just go. If you haven’t seen it for some time, you should probably still go. The classic Humphrey Bogart/Ingrid Bergman WWII film-slash-lost-love-story is too packed with things to praise for any brief summary to do it justice. David Minor Theater.

Chéri: Michelle Pfeiffer leads the cast of Stephen Frears’ adaptation of the Colette story about an aging French courtesen and the much younger man (Rupert Friend) she loves. Kathy Bates co-stars. R. Movies 12. (8/13)

Departures: An Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, Yojiro Takita’s film follows a cellist who loses his job, moves back to his hometown and finds himself working preparing bodies for funerals — a job everyone else hates, but he takes quite seriously. “Uncommonly absorbing,” said Roger Ebert. Not rated. Bijou.

District 9: Producer Peter Jackson gets top billing, but this sci-fi film about aliens taking refuge in South Africa is actually the feature-film debut of director Neill Blomkamp. The buzz is beyond good; Blomkamp is already being dubbed one to watch. R. 112 min. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15. See review this issue.

(500) Days of Summer: Oh, Joseph Gordon-Levitt. If only this movie were as good as you are in it. A quirky sorta-romance with a carefully created indie aesthetic, Marc Webb’s feature debut has a lot of charming offerings, but suffers from an ill-defined female character, played as if from a distance by Zooey Deschanel. PG-13. 95 min. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15. (8/6)

Food, Inc.: Even if you’re tired of the glut of information — which seemingly goes ignored by so many — about the problems with our food industry, this new documentary about the flaws in the system, which pulls together all the big guns (Michael Pollan, Joel Salatin), is worth your time. Bijou. (7/23)

G.I. Joe: Oh, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, why are you in this movie? It’s based on toys, not screened for critics, and the trailers make people laugh. I think some stuff blows up, too. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

G-Force: Talking guinea pigs save the world! Or whatever. Is this just an entire film capitalizing on the animation used to create that creepy-eyed creature in the godawful Bedtime Stories? PG. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Opens Wednesday, July 15. The penultimate Potter tale is a touch complicated: Voldemort is at work in the wizarding and Muggle worlds. Dumbledore needs Harry’s help in many things, including recruiting a new professor to Hogwarts. Students are being attacked, and an old book is full of unexpected information. I so hope this is better than the last one. PG. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15. (7/16)

I Love You, Man: Some people are calling this one a dick flick: Paul Rudd proposes to his girlfriend (Rashida Jones), but then desperately needs to find a male best friend to be his best man. So he goes on a bunch of “man-dates.” With Andy Samberg and the delightful Jason Segel. R. David Minor Theater. (3/26)

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs: The scrappy critters from Ice Age return: two are having a baby, one might be losing his edge and another needs to be rescued. And then there’s that troubling flying squirrel from the preview… PG13. Movies 12.

Julie & Julia: Julie Powell’s book about cooking her way through Julia Child’s masterpiece comes to screens as a two-part story: One part follows Powell in her Queens apartment, the other Child in France. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15. (8/13)

Moon: Duncan Jones’ feature film debut stars Sam Rockwell as the lone worker on a lunar mining outpost. As his three-year contract draws to a close, things start to get very strange. Intimate in scope but with larger themes under the surface, Moon is a science fiction film that’s not been crossbred with the horror or action genres; it’s a modest delight, but absolutely worth seeing. Bijou. (7/9)

Star Trek: Even the most crotchety critics are loving J.J. Abrams’ take on the maiden voyage of the Enterprise — and the rivalry-turned-friendship of young James Tiberius Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto). With Simon Pegg, Zoe Saldana, John Cho and Eric Bana. PG13. 126 min. Movies 12. (5/14)

Taking of Pelham 123, The: Denzel Washington is a New York subway dispatcher whose day gets a little weird when John Travolta hijacks a train and threatens to kill passengers if he doesn’t get a hefty sum. R. Movies 12.

Time Traveler’s Wife, The: Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana star in this adaptation of Audrey Niffenegger’s bestselling book about a man cursed with a genetic anomaly that sends him skipping, uncontrollably, through time — and the woman who loves him despite that. PG13.107 min. Cinemark. VRC Stadium 15.

Triplets of Belleville, The: Sylvain Chomet’s animated tale features the writer-director’s whimsical, skewed architecture looming over the bizarre figures, who populate his strange and wonderful story. A don’t-miss gem from 2003, the film’s Academy Award noms include Best Animated Film and original song. PG-13. David Minor Theater.

Ugly Truth, The: Any theories about why Katherine Heigl is once again playing a TV show employee? This charmer pairs her with Gerard Butler as a bad-boy TV personality who thinks he knows everything about the difference between men and woman. You got that “charmer” was being used sarcastically, right? R. Cinemark.

Year One: Michael Cera and Jack Black are a couple of hunter-gatherers who go on an epic (totally, man) journey that involves (based on the preview) women, stonings, swords and cameos from David Cross and Paul Rudd. PG13. Movies 12.

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